Pray for Lesotho on Sunday, April 4, 2010

Pray for Lesotho on Sunday, April 4, 2010

Prayer for Lesotho: John 20:1-18

Dear God,

Today we celebrate the risen Christ, our Lord and Savior.  As Mary Magadalene excitedly and joyfully shared her Good News of seeing the risen Lord, may our hearts rejoice within us as the Holy Spirit leads us along life’s pathways where we may share and receive the Good News.   Today we also remember the pioneering missionary efforts of the French Protestants of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society who brought the Gospel to Lesotho in 1833 and who founded the church with which we are partners today, the Lesotho Evangelical Church (LEC).   We give thanks for this partnership in mission which allows us to share the Good News together, to encourage one another in our faith and to work together in ministries of health and education.

We pray and give thanks for:

·  The newly elected leadership of the Lesotho Evangelical Church,  including the President, Rev. Masemene, and the Executive Secretary, Rev. Ramatlapeng.

·  The “Growing Nations – Farming God’s Way” agriculture initiative of the LEC which seeks to improve agricultural methods, reduce poverty and protect the environment.

·   Inspired leadership in the LEC for meeting the challenge of the HIV/AIDS crisis facing the nation of Lesotho.

·   The construction of new classrooms and a computer lab at Masitise High School to help train Lesotho’s leaders of tomorrow.

(Prayer by Mark Behle)

Global Ministries International Partners in Lesotho:

  • Lesotho Evangelical Church – The Lesotho Evangelical Church is one of Africa’s oldest Protestant churches, founded in 1833 by missionaries from the Paris Evangelical Mission society.  It is Lesotho’s oldest denomination and today it has 261,350 members in 112 congregations.  It also maintains 563 schools.  The LEC-sponsored schools have contributed to the 83 percent literacy rate nationwide.   Global Ministries’ relationship to LEC began in 1983.
  • Christian Council of Lesotho – The Christian Council of Lesotho is a fellowship of Christian churches and Christian organizations. It has two main objectives: (1) to foster closer cooperation and unity amongst churches and organizations of different Christian traditions; (2) to enable member churches and organization to more fully share in the spiritual, social and economic endeavors.  It has been involved over the years in social development, formal and informal education, health and sanitation, environmental protection and agriculture, civic education, conflict management. 
  • Christian Health Association of Lesotho – The mission of the Christian Health Association of Lesotho is to facilitate the participation of the Christian churches in ensuring that the right of all members of society to the highest quality health services is upheld.  In pursuit of this mission, the Christian churches are committed to see to it that quality health services reach those who have least access, the families and communities, through appropriate technologies, in spirit of mutual trust and cooperation as a tangible expression of Christ’s vision to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Global Ministries Missionary:

Mark Behle serves with the Lesotho Evangelical Church as a teacher at Masitise High School.  He teaches math, a course on Luke & Acts, coaches basketball and leads a youth group called Friends of God.  He has been in Lesotho since 1996 and prior to that served with Global Ministries in Zambia for eleven years as a teacher at Kafue Secondary School.